


Lost in the Locker

by writingramblr



Category: Pirates of the Caribbean (Movies), Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End (2007)
Genre: Alternate Ending, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, Angst with a Happy Ending, Drabble Fic, F/M, Lizzie is pirate king, No appearance from Captain Jack in this fic, One Shot, and norrington deserved better
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-26
Updated: 2014-05-26
Packaged: 2018-01-26 16:30:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1694978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingramblr/pseuds/writingramblr
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For him it was just another day in paradise.</p><p>Except his paradise was hell.</p><p>Every night he dreamt she'd come to save him. She'd forgive him and say she loved him.</p><p>So when she finally did, how could anyone fault him for disbelieving? </p><p>[Alternate Ending where Lizzie goes to the Locker with Will's help to find Norrington]</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost in the Locker

**Author's Note:**

> One Shot and unbetaed.  
> Haha psyche all my stories are unbetaed.  
> Anyway this idea came to me in the shower, and i literally had to pry myself away from the keyboard to get ready for work and get to work.  
> then i wrote more and it turned into a whopper of a one-shot.

"This is real James. I'm here." Elizabeth looked at him, concern etched over her features, eyes examining him to be sure he was not suffering any, even from his mortal wound, but she could see nothing. He was impeccably clad in uniform as always. Well except for when she'd run across him on Tortuga.

James Norrington pointed at her and laughed. His hand waved around for a moment before slumping to his side.

"I'm sure it is. My imagination has become quite creative in the last..." he paused, as time had no meaning in The Locker, he wasn’t sure how to say it. But his subconscious didn't need clarification. It stood there, watching him and James was curious as to why this version of Elizabeth was so hesitant.

"James you don't understand. I'm here to get you out."

He laughed again,

"Out? That's a new one. There is no out. Jones will not hesitate to curse me with more torture than this if I tried anything." Another vague wave in her direction emphasized his point.

Elizabeth realized what was happening. It was just like when they’d found Jack.

He'd thought them an illusion.

She stepped forward and took his hand, making absolute certain he was paying attention.

"You've been gone a while, well not that long, but long enough, Jack and Will sent Jones to hell. He's never coming back, and he's not in charge here anymore."

James frowned at her, and might have shaken off her hand if it hadn't felt so wonderful.

It felt warm and steady over his, not cool and clammy as his own did.

Come to think of it, she looked rather different than usual as well. Her sun bleached blond waves were tucked away, under a hat that looked oriental in origin, and she wore a handsome set of leather armor.

This was not his Elizabeth.

His eyes widened in shock as he listened to her.

"Elizabeth?"

She smiled at him, and it might have been an illusion all over again, but she kept saying wonderful things that had to be too good to be true.

"Will is captain of the flying Dutchman. He's in charge of the locker. He helped me find you. He's waiting for us out there. My ship is waiting back on the edge of the horizon."

She grinned and to him it looked as if she was in on a joke he'd missed the punch line to.

He squinted out past the trees and to the beach, and swore he could see a mast and sails.

Of course he dreamt often that she'd come with a whole armada, so how was this any different?

"Okay. So let's say I do come with you. Then what? I've been killed on duty. I've betrayed my country and surely I’d be ostracized from the Company." He tried to make her see sense, even if she was just a figment of his imagination.

Elizabeth squeezed his hand beneath her own,

"Oh James you'd love it. You could sail with me, join my crew. Or I could get you your own ship and crew. You've been a pirate before. Imagine how well you would do. You could be more feared and admired than Jack. Not exactly difficult considering you're a gentleman." Did she wink at him?

But the thought of him, a pirate on the seven seas was as ridiculous as her being there in the first place.

"Elizabeth please. We both know this is pure folly."

Elizabeth looked at him carefully and she could see he still didn't believe her.

Only one thing left to do.

She lifted onto her tiptoes, for even with her boots he was still taller than her, and kissed him.

Her arms wound around his neck, keeping him close. She was afraid he might try to push her away, but to her surprise his own arms encircled her waist and pulled her flush to him.

"Oh Elizabeth..."

She heard his whisper against their lips and she smiled.

"You see? Not a dream after all."

James looked sad as he stared down at her, his hand coming up to brush back a stray blond strand which had escaped the confines of her hat,

"That's what you always say."

Elizabeth realized the truth. He still thought it all a mad dream.

Enough was enough.

Will was being more than generously patient, considering the talking to she'd given him when he'd attempted to leave her on that island.

"Forgive me."

He frowned at her seconds before she slapped him.

The power behind it startled him, and with that moment of surprise, Elizabeth had handcuffed him to her left wrist.

She'd dragged him out towards the water before he could even think to protest.

By the time they were safely aboard the Dutchman, and Elizabeth was undoing the shackle, James had barely come to his senses.

"Where are you taking me?"

He'd not even acknowledged Will at the helm, nor any of the various crew going about their duties.

Elizabeth took his hand, rubbing his wrist to sooth any possible bruising from the cuffs,

"Home James. I'm taking you home."

Within a blink, they were staring at a different sunrise, no James thought, that's wrong. It was sunset.

But it had been almost daylight in The Locker.

What trickery was this?

A hand on his arm startled him from his wayward thoughts,

"Welcome back to the land of the living James."

Elizabeth's smile was warm, and her touch gentle.

As he felt the setting Sun's warmth kiss his skin, suddenly he knew. A wave of emotion swept over him and he fell to his knees, hands scrambling for purchase on the way down, the hard unforgiving wood of the deck scraping against his trousers.

Elizabeth moved with him, and pulled him into her arms, whispering soothing words to him.

"All right there Lizzie?"

A voice called from the helm, interrupting the momentary shock James was experiencing.

Elizabeth nodded and the voice fell silent.

Will Turner.

Of course.

James peered up at him and dared to ask Elizabeth,

"What happened? How did Will become captain? And why does the ship look so different?"

Elizabeth worried her bottom lip with her teeth, and shrugged,

"Oh well you know... the Dutchman must have a captain. Jack helped Will stab the heart, mostly to save us all from falling into the heart of Calypso’s maelstrom. Don't ask. Then Jack went off to shore and Will and I...well truth be told, we'd just gotten married on a whim aboard the Pearl. Whether or not it was valid, considering Barbossa performed it, and the fact Will isn't quite alive anymore...it's rather a gray area. But that's what being a pirate is all about right? "

She looked at James hesitantly, and he could swear in that moment she appeared as she had so long ago, when pirates were simply stories to keep her attention and she dreamed of meeting one.

Now it appeared she'd become one happily and even married one if briefly.

"Congratulations." His voice sounded hollow even to his own ears and Elizabeth didn't even seem to notice.

"Thank you. I'm much more proud of the fact Jack made me Pirate king of the brethren court. Without his vote, we never would have defeated Beckett and you'd still be lost."

James frowned,

"The Brethren Court? I thought that was just a legend?"

Elizabeth shrugged,

“Maybe more like a myth that happened to be based in fact. I joined the Pirate Lords when Sao Feng died and gave me his piece of eight. But that’s a long story. The fact is now, I have my own ship and crew, and you can come with me, if you want.”

James looked stunned,

“What about Will? Wouldn’t he think poorly of the man who once proposed to his now wife sailing with her?”

Elizabeth laughed,

“Well…like I said, it’s a gray area. Besides, I don’t know what I feel for him. And you? I rescued you from hell, you should know I don’t do that for everyone.”

“Just Jack! And now Norrington! No offense.”

Will shouted to them both, and James saw Elizabeth blush.

“Is that true? I had heard that Jack died, but then he was spotted by Beckett, and Beckett even spoke to him, so I figured he’d simply spread a false tale.”

Elizabeth nodded,

“Oh yes. Jones’ Kraken got him, and the Pearl. But Gibbs, Will and Barbossa and I went to the Locker and brought them both back. The world wasn’t ready to do without Captain Jack Sparrow.”

James watched her carefully,

“And you? Could you? Don’t think I’ve forgotten how he almost proposed to you. That makes three separate proposals in less than a year. You must feel rather overwhelmed.”

Elizabeth bit her lip, and her brow furrowed,

“Oh James. You know he was only teasing to get at me. Since I was afraid I might not see Will again, I was easy prey.”

“But he voted for you at the Brethren Court? As the myth says, there’s never been a pirate king because the Lords always vote for themselves. That’s certainly a change in action for Jack.”

Elizabeth raised her hands,

“Don’t ask me. I’m grateful to him, but I wouldn’t chock it up to much more than him wanting revenge on Beckett just as badly as I did. For different reasons of course.”

James nodded, but wasn’t quite convinced.  


“So where’s your ship?”

Elizabeth pointed, and James realized how far they’d traveled while he’d been distracted, attempting to piece together what had happened after he’d…left the world of the living for a bit.

It was a beautiful ship, with a completely foreign design. It was a dressed up Junk. As James looked at it, and back at Elizabeth, it made sense. No wonder she wore oriental garb and armor. She’d inherited a Pirate Lord’s ship and duties.

“What’s it like?”

Elizabeth licked her lips before speaking, and when she did, her voice was full of a strange passion James had never her speak with.

“It’s like they always tell you. The open ocean, the sea air in your face, but it’s _more_. Jack once told me, that a ship isn’t just sails, a mast, and a keel. That’s what a ship _needs._ But what a ship is, what the Pearl, and my ship, the Empress is, is Freedom. What more could a pirate ask for?”

She turned to look back at him and was startled to see tears in his eyes.

“And you would let me come with you?”

She took his hand, from where his grip of the railing was beginning to turn his knuckles white, and held it tightly,

“Of course James. There’s no one I trust more. You’d be my advisor, and my confidant. I don’t like talking shop with anyone but my crew. No offense to Barbossa, but once a mutineer, always a mutineer in my mind. As for Jack? I haven’t seen him since the aftermath of the fight with Jones. Will would probably know where he is, and I’d say we should avoid him at all costs, until the mad idea he’s got hold of gets completed.”

James frowned,

“What on earth could Jack be after now?”

Elizabeth looked over to where Will still stood at the helm, and she cocked her head,

“Come tell us what you saw.”

Will beamed and practically ran towards them.

“I’ve only seen glimpses, when he makes a particularly foolish or dangerous decision, but Jack’s on the hunt for the Fountain of Youth.”

James rolled his eyes,

“Just what the world needs, an immortal Jack Sparrow, with no responsibilities or accounting for his actions.”

Elizabeth laughed,

“Now, now. He wouldn’t really do that. Will might have to put him back in line.”

James looked thoughtful,

“What did you mean when you said you can ‘see’ him? Do you have a crystal ball or something?”

Will grinned,

“Nah. That might be useful. Anytime he’s on the sea, since I’m so in tuned to all that occurs, in case I’m needed to ferry anyone to the Beyond, I can sort of keep an eye on him. So far, he’s come close to dying twice already, but then he’s gone ashore and I can’t see how he managed to survive.”

James and Elizabeth spoke in unison,

“He’s Captain Jack Sparrow.”

Will groaned,

“Yes, besides the obvious. It’s clear that he’s fallen in with the wrong sort of pirates, and I hope, for his sake, that he believes the Fountain is worth all the trouble. I fear that if he dies again, there may be no bringing him back.”

James lifted a finger, and Elizabeth and Will both nodded to him,

“If it’s so easy to bring someone back from the dead, why aren’t more people doing it?”

Will looked sheepish,

“Ah. It’s actually not. You’ve got to go through me…usually. What we did to save Jack meant trusting someone who’d been here before. Unless you did that, or had my permission, there would be no way of reaching the Locker, otherwise people would be stumbling back and in all the time.”

Elizabeth eyed them both cautiously, hoping the worst wouldn’t occur. She didn’t want a pistol duel for her honor to break out when Will realized just how awkward it was that he’d just rescued the second man besides him who had been at one point in time in her heart.

The truth was, how could she not feel a thing for James? She’d now saved his life, repaying him for doing the same for her, and been forced to kiss him to try and bring him to his senses. That hadn’t worked, naturally, but it had been worth a shot.

She’d asked him once to come with her. She wasn’t sure why, but she felt like his refusing, and his subsequent death had been her fault. Perhaps if she’d forgiven him sooner, he might have gone with her, and lived.

But now?

She’d asked again, and seen a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Once Will had finished filling them in on Jack’s misadventures, he’d left them aboard her ship, and vanished towards the horizon in a flash of green.

Lucky thing, for Elizabeth had nearly forgotten that they could only be aboard the Dutchman a day before being unable to leave.

James didn’t say a word, but she could hear his stomach growling along with hers, so in lieu of a tour of her ship, she simply guided him to the galley, and gave him some fresh bread with a small flagon of rum.

“I suppose it’s rather strange. Not having been alive…” Elizabeth trailed off, wondering if she could possibly make the conversation any more awkward.

But James smiled at her, and shrugged,

“I suppose. I didn’t quite notice how time moved, and considering I didn’t sleep or eat, I guess it was rather like one very long day. Thank you. I’m sorry. I haven’t said that sooner. Thank you Elizabeth, for all that you’ve done.”

Elizabeth looked away from him, not feeling worthy of the things she saw in his gaze. Unspoken love, admiration, and ultimately gratitude.

“Thank you for saying yes.”

James frowned,

“To what?”

“To coming with me. Oh James. I don’t know what to say about that night. I’m so sorry. I wish I hadn’t been so angry, so blind. I should have known you would never have harmed my father.”

James swallowed, and drained the rest of the rum before replying.

“You were quite right to be cautious. I was working under Beckett’s command. I fear I may have indirectly harmed more men than I knew at the time. It’s very possible I did nothing when I could have done something to stop it.”

Elizabeth had crossed the room in a heartbeat and taken his hand,

“Don’t say that. You were only doing what you thought was right. It just turned out the orders you followed were tainted. Tainted against pirates, which I would have said before was all you knew. I don’t blame you. Not now, not ever. I do blame myself. For not listening to you. For not hearing you out.”

James sighed,

“Oh Elizabeth. How could you have? You thought I’d betrayed you. For all I know, I had. I admired you for your bravery, for staying with your crew, though they weren’t yet yours were they? I guess I am to thank for making you a pirate lord.”

He smiled ruefully, and Elizabeth nodded,

“You are. And for my becoming king. If I hadn’t, all would have been lost. Beckett would have won, and Jones would still rule the seas. Now there are free men, and women out there, alive and well because of what we did.”

James grimaced,

“Is free the right word? They’re just following a different leader. They’ve got Will to look forward to now when they die at sea.”

Elizabeth shrugged,

“Could be worse. They might have been married to him for half a day.”

That thought sobered James, and he attempted to pull away from her, but she wouldn’t let him.

“I was kidding. I can’t be with him but once a decade, if I’m not at sea anyway. What kind of life is that?”

James felt his cheeks redden. He knew what she’d been asking, and it was perfectly innocent, but he couldn’t help but wonder, if that first day, if she’d…

Elizabeth was watching him closely, and he was certain she’d be able to read his thoughts through his face, and hear the way his heart was pounding so hard it had to be echoing around the galley.

“I never wanted anything but for you to be happy. If you’ve chosen Will, I cannot fault you for it.”

James thanked her for the meal, underwhelming as it was for her, she’d wished they had a recent bout of plunder so she could show off just how good of a pirate she was, but alas, they’d not had a job since she’d decided to undertake the journey to the World’s End and the Locker again.

Elizabeth let him go, thinking she’d let him have his space.

But it wasn’t thirty minutes later on her way to her cabin that she spotted him standing at the railing, looking wistfully at the lights from the nearest town.

“Do you miss it?”

She spoke softly, so she wouldn’t startle him, and he still jumped a bit.

“Yes. I think I will.”

The tone of his voice made her extraordinarily hopeful,

“What do you mean?”

“There’s nothing for me there now. The world thinks I’m dead, so why should I argue with that?”

Elizabeth wanted to make a joke, but the morbidity of his expression was too much.

“Gone, but not forgotten. You should get a new name, to go with your new life.”

James glanced at her, a smile playing in the edge of his lips,

“Is that so? What did you have in mind Captain?”

Elizabeth shrugged,

“Nothing yet. And I prefer King.” Her wink told him she wasn’t being completely serious, but he still stepped away from the railing and gave her his best impromptu bow

“My King. Forgive me.”

All it took was those words to sober her,

“No. That’s my line. Can you possibly forgive me James? Truly?”

James’ eyes widened,

“Of course Elizabeth. It is done. I’ve forgiven you a thousand times since that night.”

Lest she begin to cry, she pulled away, and simply looked out at the moonlight reflecting on the waves.

“Thank you James. You’re far too good for me.”  
James set a hand on her arm, gentle, unthreatening,

“Is that what you think? You think you don’t deserve _me?_ I think you’ll find you’ve got it backwards, your highness.”

Elizabeth sighed,

“Oh James. You’re utterly impossible sometimes.”

His hand slipped around and down to her waist, and he pulled her into his arms. She didn’t protest, and for that he was grateful. After all, she’d kissed him in the Locker. It had been her, not some figment of his imagination.

“Elizabeth,”

He started to ask her something, but the look in her eyes distracted him,

“Never mind.”

Elizabeth lifted a hand to brush over his forehead, smoothing the frown lines that had formed there,

“You’re safe James. Safe with me. Always.”

Then he was kissing her and she didn’t care if he had forgiven her or not. He was alive, and her debt was repaid.

Now all they had to do was figure out what to do about Jack Sparrow.

***

**END**

 

**Author's Note:**

> You could look at it as an alternate look at how exactly how James joined Elizabeth's crew, in In need of a Ship? if he had still died. except now i forget how my own headcanon goes....nevermind. enjoy the story as a standalone AU ;)


End file.
